Stephen “Triple” Li should have played for the junior team of the legendary Team SoloMid in League of Legends. Now the contract was terminated on the last day of the year 2022. The termination follows a pretty wild story involving drugs and missteps that the pro regrets.
Who is the pro?
- Stephen “Triple” Li is a 23-year-old Australian who has been playing LoL professionally since 2016. According to Liquipedia, he has already earned over $23,000.
- Now, in 2023, Triple was supposed to play as a midlaner for TSM Academy. However, the team announced on December 31, 2022, that the contract was terminated immediately (via Twitter).
- TSM Academy is the junior team of Team SoloMid, one of the largest LoL teams in the world and the most important team in the USA.
Ex-girlfriend speaks about drugs, party crashes, and threats
This is the story: In a post on Twitter, Triple’s ex-girlfriend Long talks about her experiences with the pro. It was about relationship problems, but also about Triple’s behavior in general.
Long accuses Triple of having consumed “drugs, alcohol, and nicotine” almost daily. She also shared some screenshots of conversations in which Triple apparently stated that he was currently on “Molly” – another word for MDMA or ecstasy.
In another section, Long recounts a party she hosted, where Triple got excessively drunk:
I hosted a party in my apartment where [Triple] drank so much that he passed out on my bed and vomited everywhere. In the end, I had to throw away the sheets and had a panic attack because I just couldn’t wake him up. I had to call a friend who came to help me get [Triple] to a safe place so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit.
Furthermore, Triple threatened in a fit of frustration to “drive through an intersection at 200 and kill 6 people” or to buy a gun because he “wanted to kill someone”. According to screenshots, he sent a picture where he apparently holds a gun in his hands.
A Twitch streamer behaved similarly, who threatened a critic live with his gun. Twitch, however, only reacted a month later – unlike with more prominent bans:
“I take full responsibility and apologize”
This is what Triple says about it: In a post on Twitter, the pro addresses the accusations. He admits, among other things, that he had problems with drugs. These were his escape to cope with the pressure in esports.
He tried it with training and therapy, but to quickly reach a better “state,” only certain substances were an option for him. Specifically, he only mentions Adderall, a medication for treating ADHD, which even the Twitch streamer Sodapoppin has had contact with and that is frequently abused in esports:
He also admits to the incident at the party, explaining that he had drunk a drink during beer pong that was much stronger than expected. That knocked him out shortly after.
The threat regarding the intersection was a tasteless and pretty stupid joke that referred to a tragedy in August in Los Angeles (via DailyNews.com). He regrets that choice of words but never really intended to do something like that. Even the picture with the gun wasn’t him but just a picture he used.
However, Triple also explains that “airing dirty laundry” on social media is not a good decision. He describes transgressions in the relationship from a completely different perspective but admits to his missteps:
“I firmly believe that […] every progress should be celebrated and not avoided, and I’m willing to piss in cups to prove that I’m heading in the right direction. Even though I wish the public didn’t know everything, I hold no grudges against anyone involved and sincerely apologize to all parties.”
The pro is slowly moving in the right direction and sees the offer from TSM as a chance to make things “right again,” with 2023 as his “redemption arc.”
The announcement that TSM terminated the contract with Triple came only after the pro’s explanations. Since then, both parties have been silent on Twitter. Whether and where Triple will continue in esports in LoL remains open.
Team SoloMid, meanwhile, has completely different problems:
